Graham: I don’t know.

Me: In the next two months maybe?

Graham: Probably not. Why do you ask?

Me: I have a horror book I want to read and a movie to watch. I want to make sure you’re going to be around while it’s still fresh in my head.

_________________________________________________________________

Most people probably outgrow their childhood fears, but I still have severe existential hang-ups and paranoia of the paranormal. In all fairness, I really do it to myself. I grew up watching horror films with my grandmother in her bedroom. Since my grandmother spoke almost no English, horror films provided an unlikely way for us to bond. Visual suspense and fear bridged successfully across the linguistic divide. I’ve grown desensitized to some subgenres (slashers, monsters, zombies, etc.), but then there are the ones that burrow into childhood fears and metastasize into my imagination.

I’ve always lived in close proximity to other people. Family, apartments, roommates/housemates, and now, husband, so even if my paranoia choked back sleep, I at least felt some comfort knowing that there was only a thin wall or door that separated me from other people, and sleeping with your significant other in the same bed eliminates the dilemma of whether to sleep facing the door or the closet. In the end it doesn’t matter since your S/O’s logic brainwaves will drive away the boogeyman.

However… panic always sets in when Graham has a business trip.

Once upon a time though, when we first started dating, I asked Graham that if we were ever living together.. and I suddenly got bad vibes about a place, if he’d promise to let us move. I’ve seen The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, Insidious.. and in all of those movies, Lee Remick, Mia Farrow, and Rose Byrne are never taken seriously and then all hell breaks loose as their fears are proven. Graham promised we’d move.

Last night, on a whim, I asked him if he remembered that promise.

No.

Shoot. Now I have to add “Pod People” to my list.

Stacy

Stacy

*We have your Lillet.It is currently unharmed.. really… proof of life as of today, September 7. 2016.

But whether it continues existing in its current state depends on your ability to meet *our my demands.

Your Lillet will be returned to you unharmed if you successfully exchange it for a dozen of your homemade macarons.. any flavors will suffice with the exception of those listed here. 

Failure to comply will force a fate on your bottle similar to its friend:That one is nearly empty… only a fraction of the bottle that it used to be.

Tell your parents, and the Lillet will suffer the consequences. You can start saying goodbye to it piece by piece at a time.. again.. like its buddy..

You have 72 hours. Clock starts now.

Stacy

*Your brother did not approve this message. 

Stacy.. And Huxley

Happy Anniversary, Graham! Thank you for a wonderful year.

Stacy

PS. Apologies for the crappy formatting of this post. There were a lot of technical difficulties.. I finally gave up because I already lost an hour and a half working on this post instead of spending time with my husband on our wedding anniversary. Did I mention he’s patient?

The film is loosely based on the 1957-1958 murder spree of teenage couple Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate and stars Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. It starts out in small town Port Dupree, South Dakota with what seems to be the innocent meeting of Kit (Sheen) and Holly (Spacek), but as Holly’s voiceover foreshadows, “Little did I realise that what began in the alleys and backways of this quiet town would end in the Badlands of Montana.”When Holly’s father objects to his teenage daughter’s relationship with Kit who is a decade older than her at 25, the couple take matters into their own hands with his murder, an attempted cover-up setting Holly’s home ablaze, and then going on the lam which eventually leads to the deaths of at least 10 more people before the obligatory climactic car chase at the end of the film.What’s interesting is that the plot outline suggests a brutal action film. I didn’t give Graham any information on the movie except, “Martin Sheen is so dreamy.” When Holly’s father is shot, Graham said.. “So this is basically Natural Born Killers?” :Not quite.

The narrative is rather slow-paced and may seem frustrating at times. For me, the key to enjoying this movie isn’t about focusing on so much on the plot, but rather the characters.. and the overall aesthetics of course. A lot of the negative reviews I’ve read about the film cite problems with Kit and Holly’s relationship and conversations.. that everything is stilted and awkward, but to blame this on Malick’s inability to write dialogue is completely missing the point. They’re supposed  to be uncomfortable people with a lack of conversational skills. I got the impression that both characters were going through the motions of life. Kit tried to make everything bigger and grander to give his life meaning, while Holly follows because “she hasn’t got anything better to do.” Essentially, Kit’s observation of Holly, “just being along for the ride,” is an accurate assessment. The two are like children trying to play at being grown-ups.Honestly, if you’re inclined, half the fun of this movie is playing armchair psychologist on the main characters. Robert D. Hare actually dissects the characters’ behavior in Without Conscience: The Disturbing World Of Psychopaths Among Us and tries to diagnose them. Regardless of how you feel about the movie itself, reading reviews and analyses of it can also be particularly engrossing.As you’ve probably figured out from my previous post, I have a tendency to get hung up on the aesthetics and mood of a film, and I love the dreamy listlessness that floats through this one. This film, along with Malick’s second feature-length Days of Heaven (another one I’d recommend in spite of the fact that I dislike Richard Gere), look like Andrew Wyeth paintings come to life.The mountains and Great Plains make a stunning backdrop.. so much so that I’d give them third billing. Interestingly enough, although the movie takes place in South Dakota, Montana, and the Great Plains, it was filmed entirely in Colorado. Also, a fun fact for the film nerds out there, the art direction is by Jack Fisk, production designer for There Will Be Blood and The Revenant.I have a sneaking suspicion that this movie is also a favorite among photographers and stylists. In fact, I dare you to go through the screenshots in this post and find one that doesn’t seem like it could be from an Urban Outfitters or Anthropologie lookbook in the last decade.See? They kinda scream, “turn me into a (insert pseudo-bohemian-trendy-vintage clothing line name here) fashion editorial!”

I’m not sure if Graham actually enjoyed the movie. Although, personally, I did enjoy it when Terrence Malick featured various animals out in the wild and this happened:

Graham: Peregrine!

Me: What?

Graham: That was a peregrine falcon. I always wanted one as a kid.

Me: What’s wrong with a single grin falcon? Not good enough for you?

(Laughter… LOTS of laughter.. laughter to the point where the next couple minutes of dialogue is completely drowned out.. by JUST  my own laughter)

Graham: (sigh) Oh, honey.

Stacy

Criterion released Badlands into their collection in 2013.

One of the biggest complaints I’ve read from various reviews on the movie deals with Margot being such a flawed character.. which really.. I feel, is the point. There wouldn’t be a story to tell without her flaws.. Sarah Silverman makes an appearance as a supporting character, and although I’ve never been a fan of hers, she really shines in the film as the intuitive observer, reiterating the wisdom in the comment made by the older women in the shower scene at the pool, “new things get old just like the old things do.” The same needs to be said of Seth Rogen. I was skeptical about the casting decision, but he’s successful in making me forget how much I dislike him.. fully embracing his role.

I watched it together with Graham for the first time 2 years ago. He thought it offered an interesting perspective as far as the “couple drama” goes since he’s usually watched films that offered the male perspective unless.. as he put it.. “it’s the Nicholas Sparks bullshit.” He enjoyed it.. but it has forever made him wary of “hipster rickshaw dudes.”Graham’s actually never watched my second summer film with me.. or at all for that matter.. something we’re going to remedy before Thursday’s post.. much to his chagrin.

On the plus side for him, there’s no hipster rickshaw man indiscretions in that one nor does “Video Killed the Radio Star” ever play in it. I should probably add that as a warning for those of you who are susceptible to earworms.

Take This Waltz is available for streaming on Netflix.

Stacy

I didn’t think that feeling could be topped so soon, but then this happened:Yes.. those are the trypophobic-inducing asiatic lilies.. and yes, that’s a compost bin. Thank you, Graham for helping me pry those suckers out of the ground and for being so much less of a jerk than me that you didn’t chase me around the yard with them.

Stacy

Spring = Jogging -> Summer = Jogging-> Autumn = Jogging (maybe) -> Winter = Binge myself into hibernation

This summer, however, I’ve been incredibly frustrated. Thanks to my herniated disc, I haven’t been able to go running since April. Although my back has been getting better, working out has been confined to physical therapy exercises that are absent of any kind of cardio high. Without being able to go jogging, or walking everywhere, or even tackling housework other than sweeping and washing dishes, I was convinced I had been gaining weight.

So I was pretty surprised to notice that my shorts seemed looser, and I was having to tug them up a lot. I didn’t think too much of it until I started having to pull up my underwear too.

YES! In spite of missing out on the cardio and upping my burger intake (thanks, grilling season) I’m losing weight! A follow-up visit to my doctor confirmed that I’d lost a few pounds.

I went through my closet and found a dress I wore 2 summers ago, wondering if it just might fit this season.

YAY!!! That’s also a new haircut =)

Actually.. that totally didn’t happen.. at all. It went like this instead:

No, that’s not me pregnant. It’s me – hello, summer, I didn’t lose any weight and that scale at the doctor’s office was lying.

That’s when I realized though…

And…I’d lost weight all right. All of it from my butt!.. that thing I’ve had to sit on for most of the summer while participating in marathons… of Investigation Discovery. I had lost weight in the one place I really needed to gain it! =(

If the above model wasn’t helpful in explaining, maybe this simple line drawing will help:

That would be me on the right.. without the butt. Not that I ever really had one.. but at least I had just enough of one to keep my underwear up. I think Graham just bought some duct tape on a Home Depot run.. I also found this website:

34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival

And if you click on the link and checkout the domain name, I’ll tell you this.. No, the irony did not escape me. And I’ve just created usage 35.

Stacy

Yes, that’s an illustration of the fear Graham developed while we were in Seattle. And no, it isn’t the color “coral”.. I’ve already cultivated that fear in him thanks to my insistence of bringing “pops of color” to the 3rd floor landing by way of throw pillows and prints.

When I asked Graham what he’d be most interested in seeing during our trip, he said he wanted “A Tour Of Stacy’s Seattle.” He wanted to experience the city the way I did when I lived there from 2006-2011. What he didn’t realize was “A Tour Of Stacy’s Seattle” translates into a lot of walking (my preferred method of travel being my own two feet), eating, and drinking (Graham made the comment that he felt like he was back in college during our visit).

By our first morning, he figured out the full implications of his request and wanted to take it back. We had brunch at my favorite spot Toulouse Petit in lower Queen Anne, and after sufficiently weighing ourselves down with the rich Bayou Fisherman’s Breakfast and Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict, I told Graham I wanted to show him the view of Seattle’s skyline from Kerry Park which was a short walk away.

Now, what I didn’t tell Graham about this short walk was that not only would it be all uphill, but that this street was also featured as one of Seattle’s top 20 steepest inclines.

This image could stand to be slightly more accurate..

Like this…All was forgiven once he saw the view..

However, forgiveness did not mean he wasn’t going to do everything possible to avoid the hills in the city. But one of the things I love about Graham is that he’s a trooper. We’d walk 5-8 miles a day without a complaint from him.. well.. unless it was uphill.

Although I lived in Seattle for almost 5 years, I never visited the Space Needle. Showing Graham around the city provided the perfect excuse to remedy that. From the top of the tower, I pointed out how far we’d walked that morning and afternoon.And as a thank you, I agreed we could take an Uber back.. at least partway.. to one of my favorite bars…And then walked the 1.6 miles back to the Airbnb.

Stacy

PS. In case you’d like to see other views from the Space Needle including Lake Union and Elliot Bay and the unscribbled original of the photo above..